Henry Knox

Henry Knox (25 July 1750-25 October 1806) was Secretary of War of the United States from 8 March 1785 to 31 December 1794, succeeding Benjamin Lincoln and preceding Timothy Pickering. Knox served as a Major-General of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, best-known for his command of artillery during the war.

Biography
Henry Knox was born on 25 July 1750 in Boston, Massachusetts, and he opened a bookstore there. Knox cultivated an interest in military history, and he decided to join a local artillery company in the Continental Army. Knox befriended George Washington at the start of the American Revolutionary War, and he rose to become the chief artillery officer of the Continental Army during the war. Knox led an impressive march from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston that brought artillery to the besieging army there, bringing cannon to the Dorchester Heights and forcing the British Army to abandon the city of Boston. Knox was involved in many actions of the war while accompanying Washington, and he established training centers for artillerymen. After the adoption of the US Constitution, he was named Washington's Secretary of War, and he oversaw the nation's activity in the Northwest Indian War and the development of coastal fortifications. Knox was sympathetic towards the Native Americans and wanted them to be considered sovereign states, but illegal settlements and fradulent land transfers frustrated his goals. Knox built a business empire out of borrowed money in Thomaston, Maine in 1795 after leaving office, and he died in 1806 from an infection caused by him swallowing a chicken bone, leaving a bankrupt estate.